How does grass fed beef get its flavour?

You need to get four things just right to create great tasting beef.

Farm... Animal... Preparation... and You. 

Let's start with the farm

Regenerative farmers work with nature to produce beef that's more nutritious and better tasting than grain fed, commodity, beef. And that starts with a high welfare – low stress – environment. Because the less stressed the animal, the better it does.

Diet’s important too

What cattle eat makes a huge impact on flavour. And 100% grass fed cattle live on a natural diet of herbs, flowers and a huge range of grasses. The more diverse the grasses, the more complex the flavour becomes.

Luckily enough, it's our traditional breeds like Highland cattle, Hereford and Longhorn that do best on a grass fed diet.

And, even though grass fed beef has less fat than grain fed beef, it's got more than enough to add a great tasting beefy flavour. 

That's because we've been taught to think tenderness and flavour is all down to marbling (the visible streaks of fat in steaks).

It's not. 

Essentially, there's two types of fat in beef

The fat you can see is saturated fat – and the fat you can't see is unsaturated fat. 

The unsaturated – healthy – fat is where most of the flavour is (Phospholipids and Triglycerides). It's the fat that makes beef taste like beef and lamb taste like lamb. And it's why grass fed beef has a stronger denser flavour than grain fed beef.

The next stage is preparation and ageing

There's two ways to age beef. Dry or wet ageing – and there’s an age old debate over which is the best. 

Dry ageing produces an incredibly deep, rich, and nutty taste. That's because, as it ages, it loses moisture which not only increases the fat to meat ratio, it also concentrates the beefy flavour.

And then comes the turbo boost... the ageing process coats the meat with enzymes which, again, significantly intensifies the flavour.

Wet ageing produces an almost unmatchable degree of tenderisation, but it doesn't have the same depth of favour. Some people even detect a slightly metallic flavour.

  

A rack of dry aged beef Sirloins 

And, finally... you

You need to consider, different ways of cooking, produce entirely different flavours. 

And a lot of that flavour depends on the “Maillard reaction”. It's a reaction that only kicks in at high temperatures: 140 – 165C. And it releases a flavour bomb of about 1,000 volatile compounds which produce that umami like taste everyone loves.

It's also why so many cooks sear meat when cooking it, even if it's not being roasted or grilled. If seared properly before cooking, the umami taste follows through into casseroles, stews and braises.

But there's another reason too – flavour's not just down to taste. 

A huge amount of flavour depends on your nose. Before that steak even gets to your lips your brain's already processed the aroma. And “tasted” it for you. 

And that's the reason why BBQ's “taste” so amazing... even before you've taken a bite.

How to use marinades properly

What's best, bone-in beef ... or bone-out? 

Grass fed Beef is different to grain fed Beef – and you cook it a different way

Tenderise your beef - what works and what doesn't?

Why brining your meat can be a good idea

You need to sear your meat  – even if it's going in a stew

 

SOURCES

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Nurtured by nature
Kirsten Weir
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Sep 2018 

What gives meat flavour
Val Neff-Rasmusen
Feb 2016  

Marbling in Grass Fed Beef
Grass Fed Solutions

Flavour development in meat
Improving the Sensory and Nutritional Quality of Fresh Meat
J.S. Elmore, D.S. Mottram – 2009

Influence of fresh alfalfa supplementation on fat skatole and indole concentration and chop odour and flavour in lambs grazing a cocksfoot pasture
Meat Science
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